Yesterday a new Irish Single Malt whiskey was released by Dingle. It’s their first core whiskey, and therefore they released it with the hashtag #heretostay.

There have been Dingle Single Malts before (Dingle Malt?) but those were batched released instead of a core expression. A step in the right direction to finally have a regularly available whiskey from one of Ireland’s newer distilleries.

In the Netherlands Dingle is imported by Whisky Center and they were kind enough to send me a sample a little while ago (thanks DJK!).

Maturation of this approximately six year old whiskey happens for 61% in PX sherry casks, while the rest of the whiskey is drawn from bourbon casks. Let’s find out what this all means in terms of scent and flavor!

Sniff:
The nose starts noticeably young, but not harsh. There’s a clean spirit, and both the bourbon and PX cask haven’t overpowered this youngster. Lots of bready notes with a small note of baking spices. Powdered clove and ginger. The spirit isn’t sweet at all (how un-Irish?), with mostly hints of moss and ferns. After a while I get a hint of coffee.

Sip:
The palate is quite smooth and there’s a little bit more sweetness here. A hint of crushed black pepper, with some espresso like dryness. Behind it is some barley sweetness, with hints of fresh white bread with poppy seed crust. The foresty note is still there, but is much more timid.

Swallow:
The finish is, again, a little bit more sweet than what came before. More typically Irish because of it. More focus on the barley, the breadiness of it. Still some hints of black pepper and the dryness of an espresso. Some other spices than pepper too, that ground clove and ginger.

Not bad at all, and the youthfulness of it is actually quite likeable. I’m very glad the whiskey hasn’t been overpowered by the use of so many PX sherry casks, which had me worried for a little bit.

I’m very curious to see where this goes with some more aging, as I expect there to be a 10 year old in a few years either. So far, they seem to be on the right track with this tasty dram!

85/100

Available at Whisky Center and other retailers in The Netherlands since yesterday (officially) for about € 55